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jbalonso777
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Joined: 05 Jul 2012
Posts: 1501
Location: Never, never land
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 Posted: Thu May 12, 2016 8:33 pm Post subject: Summertime in the States (9): Delta's B717 to Los Angeles! |
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So, if you're wondering why we went back to LA: well, going from San Francisco to Grand Forks (via Minneapolis) was far more expensive than the itinerary we booked - San Francisco to Grand Forks via Los Angeles AND Minneapolis....
Checked in for the next three flights pretty much there and then. Boarding passes showed that the lady amongst us, aka my mother, was the lucky one with the TSA Precheck. She was cleared through, while Dad and I would have to remove shoes and get laptop out, etc etc etc. A pain, basically. 
I was informed that DL2764, the SFO-LAX flight, was one of Delta’s ‘Shuttle’ routes, which are basically frequent flights operating on a trunk route with a dedicated check in line and…wait for it…American fare that is NOT peanuts, pretzels and cookies! 
Another hole created in our pockets thanks to the baggage fees, we dropped off our luggage at the check in counter and the person confirmed our final destination as being Grand Forks. Well, I wouldn’t blame him if he was surprised, seriously, half the people wouldn’t even know where Grand Forks is 
Security was pretty quick, and SFO’s security hold (for DL at least), wasn’t as bad LAX’s Southwest security. Mum was waiting for the two of us at the end. We found seats close to our gate, 44. It was going to be a pretty long 2.5 hours+ wait. I kept spotting minimal, but then again, it was getting dark anyway. I sat around and rested. 3 flights lay between me and living a life all alone without my parents. I was starting to feel it quite badly. And to add to that, all the flying around got very tedious for me, and I wondered: maybe the direct late night red eye B767 out of San Francisco would've been nicer! But the B717 would've never happened.
Some very tricky low-light spotting images!
This one's an interesting one - delivered to TWA, merged to AA, and then sold to DL!
Parents went for a proper dinner at the restaurant nearby, while I settled for some thing I don't even remember what... It wasn't very good anyway. Announcements were made that our flight to Los Angeles would be delayed by 17 or 18 minutes, meaning a revised departure time of 2117 or 2118 hours. Closer to the departure time, I noticed that some activity was taking place. I headed for the window to see my plane arrive. N891AT, a 11.3 years old Boeing 717-2BD pulled in to the gate.
All passengers deplaned and headed back, this began a quick turnaround for the Delta ground staff. The awkward front-to back boarding process began. The first half of Economy will board the plane first, followed by the second half, creating a nice crowded and congested line in the jet bridge. While messy, it does ensure flights depart more or less on time, so something must be working out rather well here….
We soon boarded, finally got greeted at the door, something that didn’t happen on the trip so far..so yay!
Took my seat 24A and looked at the engine, the BMW Rolls Royce engine. The plane filled up rather well, it was a full load on this Delta Shuttle to Los Angeles.
Very plastic-y seat back
Pushback was at 2126 hours, both engines were fired up into life, one at a time. Yes, a single engine taxi, a first for me, and it was bound to happen sooner or later. It was quite a slow taxi to the active runway, took quite a while. 2147 hours, a whole 47 minutes after departure time, we took off into the starry skies of San Francisco. The BMW RR engines made some fantastic sounds as we climbed towards our cruising altitude.
Over flying SFO airport!
Lights were turned off for most of the flight. Two rounds of service began. First was the free snack, believe it or not, NOT the standard American pretzels, cookies, peanuts, etc etc etc fare. It was a pretty reasonable snack - some tortilla type cracker, dip, and cold veggies. Accompanied by a fresher towel. Nice! This was followed by the standard stuff, so I requested for my standard stuff, ginger ale. 
On a Boeing 717 - confirmed!
Notice the rear exit? it is pretty rare!
I found out that the wifi onboard was actually free, perhaps a glitch in the system! Either way, I used it to talk to quite a few people, including on the WhatsApp group. That’s when our lovely member iflybt20 (or U Raj) told me they’d charge for my data usage after we land. Silly me fell for it ugh.  I know better now. Maybe. 
I was drifting in and out of sleep when descent began. We were on course to make a scheduled on time landing, but I wasn’t too worried because we’d have at least an hour and a half between the two flights.
We landed at 2240 hours, three minutes late. A long taxi to Terminal 5 followed.
We docked at Gate 55A. Parked at gate 53A was this rather nice looking Delta Boeing 737-900ER with split scimitar winglets. N842DN she was. ‘If only…’ I thought. Engines off, the Boeing 717-200 beside us departed for its flight back to SFO.
The crew greeted us as we thanked them for the flight, and walked into a very congested T5 at LAX. I connected to the internet first and messaged the group because of Raj’s games (I will get you back….soon), before checking the details for the next flight. DL1435, with service to Minneapolis - gate 53A!! The scimitar equipped B73J - this was to going to be a special one!!
Regards
Jish
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sumantra
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Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 4685
Location: New Delhi
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| Posted: Thu May 12, 2016 11:44 pm Post subject: |
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A lovely short ride, and a lovely report on the same!
You r low-light pictures were interesting...and the SFO over-fly one, exotic.
It is really nice that you have managed a B717 flight: I have always looked at these types with some awe, right from the first time I saw one in the AirTran colours in front of me, in 2005. In the pre-Internet era, I had been astonished to find a Boeing product looking like a MadDog, before laying my hands on some material which told the whole story. The `snack' was a pleasant surprise: those carrot and celery sticks look nice, with the dip.
MSP is an airport I have visited in the course of two visits spread over...thirty years, and roamed all around. I look forward to reading your experience, and seeing your night-time pictures.
Cheers, Sumantra. |
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jbalonso777
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Joined: 05 Jul 2012
Posts: 1501
Location: Never, never land
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| Posted: Tue Jun 07, 2016 8:52 am Post subject: |
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To be honest sir, even with the internet at our disposal, I still can't put the pieces together of the MD/Boeing 717 saga...its quite confusing but someday I'll figure out LOL
The MSP trip reports are on their way!!
Regards
Jish
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jbalonso777
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Location: Never, never land
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